Also, President Boris Yeltsin's spokesman warned radio listeners that it is "impossible to expect a quick solution" to the uprising despite Russian commanders' repeated predictions of the rebels' imminent demise.

Yeltsin sees the two-week conflict as a "real threat to Russia's integrity ... and considers it necessary to do everything possible to halt the anti-government, terrorist acts of the armed bands," said spokesman Dmitry Yakushkin, speaking on Echo Moscow radio.

The new language is reminiscent of Russia's 1994-96 war in Chechnya, which ended in a humiliating Russian withdrawal. The Dagestan fighting is the worst in Russia since then, and while the Kremlin has sent troops and weaponry, it is also wary of repeating the Chechnya debacle.